Beyond the Illusion
by rayrae118
Summary: Third in the Whatever it Takes series. The call went out across the globe and to the far reaches of the universe. Now that Morgan has been told, there's one more thing Tony needs to do. Avengers assemble once more to hear the good and bad news.


**Disclaimer: don't own Avengers**

The call went out across the globe and to the far reaches of the universe. Those that couldn't make it physically to the large cabin by the lake that they had just visited a few weeks earlier called in remotely, their holographic images projected for the rest to see in the far corner of the cozy living room.

Sam had returned from DC, where he had been staying with his family – his sister had survived the snap, but her husband and their parents had been just as dusted as he himself had been. They had all enjoyed a tearful reunion, as even before the decimation it had been several years since he had been able to see them, being a fugitive superhero and all.

Scott arrived with a sullen expression, so out of character for him but he hadn't wanted to leave Cassie; Rhodey's message had sounded urgent and serious though, so he knew he had to be there. Hope had come with him.

Peter was back too, with May. She hadn't received an official request from Rhodey, but they had been planning to come visit this weekend anyway and she figured if there was some big hero meeting she hadn't gotten the memo for, they could tell her to leave if they didn't want her there.

Bruce and Wanda arrived at nearly the same time, despite coming from different continents – Wanda had disappeared to Eastern Europe after Tony's funeral, while Bruce had been on his way to South America when he had gotten the call. He had left right after Steve's sacrifice and Tony's unexpected reappearance, wanting to take some time for himself to process, and there were many countries around the world who could use some additional strength to help them sort things out after the sudden reappearance of so many people.

Clint arrived at nearly the last minute, wanting to leave his family about as much as Scott had wanted to leave Cassie, but he couldn't ignore Rhodey's call, even if a large part of him wanted to hit the snooze button. They had just saved the universe at such a heavy cost, couldn't the next crisis wait?

Wong and Strange arrived from the Sanctum in Manhattan, stepping through a glowing red circle that barely phased anyone anymore.

Fury and Hill were there too, glad to be included in whatever it was – it was more than they had gotten before Thanos' snap, with Fury barely having time to call Danvers for help before being dusted, though at least Maria could understand that the Avengers had been left slightly out of the loop with all things SHIELD, so maybe it made sense why they hadn't reached out when Thanos' army had arrived on Earth.

Even Valkyrie was there, arriving from the Asgardian settlement in Norway on a Pegasus, a bottle of whiskey in one hand and ready with a hearty glare for any who looked her way. And several concealed weapons on hand if anyone tried to chastise her over the dangers of drinking and flying. No one did.

The hologram corner was full too, with the Guardians calling in from space – Quill, Drax, Nebula, Mantis, Rocket, Groot, and Thor had paused their search for Gamora who had disappeared shortly after the final battle to answer Rhodey's request for a group meeting, and were all clustered around the small camera, appearing very squashed together in the holographic image at the cabin on Earth.

The Wakandans had called in as well, too busy rebuilding their own country and helping out their neighbors to make the trip across the ocean. T'Challa, Shuri, and Okoye were all visible in glowing blue light.

Carol Danvers' image joined them. She had disappeared across the universe after the funeral too, choosing to venture out and help as many other planets as she could, other worlds that were also dealing with the sudden return of half their population.

By the time they were all assembled, the living room was very crowded – Bruce took up a significant amount of space all on his own – though the absence of several key players was clear. Tony. Natasha. The grief would be a long time fading for them. The new arrivals couldn't help but look questionably at those who had met them on their arrival: Rhodey, Pepper, and Bucky. Happy had taken Morgan out for the day so that she wouldn't have to hear it all again and her parents could deal with telling the rest of the group what had happened.

Tony himself was waiting out of sight until Rhodey had a chance to explain. He had offered to do all the talking so that Bucky wouldn't have to, though when Bruce had arrived he understood what this gathering was about and offered to help, much to Rhodey's relief. It was hard enough to hear it, let alone having to think about telling others.

When it looked like everyone was present, physically or virtually, Rhodey swallowed harshly and forced himself to step forward. "Thanks for coming, everyone." Any small side conversations immediately died.

"Please tell me the world isn't ending again," Quill piped up from his hologram. "I mean seriously, we just saved the universe, can't the bad guys take, like a month off?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to go with the guy with the weird hero name that's probably compensating for something on this one," Clint added. "If any more bad guys show up, I quit."

Quill glared at Clint for the cheap shot about his name. A few weary chuckles sounded from around the room, but Rhodey didn't smile.

T'Challa frowned from his hologram, observing the room around him. While it was possible that he was missing a corner or two due to the camera angle, there was someone absent and he doubted in any situation that Steve would be lurking in a hidden corner. "Colonel Rhodes, where is Captain Rogers?" he asked curiously.

Any chuckles died immediately, some in the room perhaps realizing for the first time just what was wrong with this scenario. Where was their leader? Despite the split, despite the fallout of the Accords and Captain America spending the two years before Thanos' arrival as a fugitive on the run, and despite and how little or well some of these people had known him, there was one thing they were all certain of: Steve was in charge. So why had it been Rhodey to contact them?

Rhodey flinched, throwing a careful look at Bucky before glancing at Bruce and Sam, the only two who didn't look confused. "That's why you're all here," he admitted softly. "Steve… well, something happened."

Thor furrowed his brow, leaning forward and peering intently through the camera to the group several planets away. "I thought the Captain was going to return the stones and my hammer? Has there been a problem?"

"You could say that," Bucky muttered, but the words were only caught by those closest to him – Rhodey and Pepper. Pepper rested a hand gently on his arm, but didn't say anything.

Bruce stepped forward, taking over for Rhodey, who looked incredibly relieved. "He did," the Hulk/Bruce reassured the crowd. "We finished the smaller time machine a few days ago, and he went back to return the stones. Everything worked the way it was supposed to…" Hulk shook his head, "until he got to his last stop. Vormir."

Clint flinched, remembering the minutes he had spent on that godforsaken planet. "What happened there?" he asked, voice rough.

Bruce sighed. "Well, we think he _could_ have just dropped the stone off and left, but…"

"But he had to be a self-sacrificing idiot and do something heroic and stupid instead."

Tony's sudden entrance drew more than one cry and more than one weapon leveled at the presumed dead man.

"Calm down!" Rhodey's commanding voice sounded over the din. "Put your weapons away and let us explain." He glared at Tony. "You were supposed to wait."

Tony shrugged nonchalantly and took a seat next to Pepper. "You were drawing it out too long. I got bored."

"Yeah, that's really Tony," Clint declared, putting his bow down and settling back into his seat. No one else could replicate the man's lack of patience and propensity for dramatics in quite the same way.

"What the hell?" Quill asked incredulously.

Next to him, Rocket also chimed in. "I mean, it's cool that you're not dead and all, but what a waste of a perfectly good funeral."

A few people threw glares at the racoon, but most looked too curious themselves to bother scolding him. With a painful grimace, Quill couldn't help but think that if she had been there, it would have been Gamora's role to offer up a reprimand to the wisecracking racoon.

Bruce cleared his throat, calling all attention back to him. He smiled softly at Rhodey, and the Colonel agreeably sat down, letting the man who had actually been there when Steve had disappeared and Tony returned continue. "Honestly we don't know all the facts," he admitted. "Here's what we do know: Steve went to the past to return the stones. He got to Vormir, and we figure, the stone offered him an exchange. A soul for a soul. He decided to send Tony back and take his place instead."

"What?!" Clint shot to his feet again. "That Red Skull guy said it was permanent. And Tony didn't even die that way!"

Tony bit his lip. "He wouldn't have brought back Natasha, Clint," he said softly, understanding the man's anger. "I'm sure he wanted to, but he would have respected her choice to get you the stone."

"But he didn't respect your choice to use them all together?" Clint shot back with a glare.

Tony shrugged. "Can't say I'm too pleased at the guy, but I think he weighed the pros and cons and decided that… certain people," he shot a look at Pepper, thinking about his daughter currently out eating ice cream with her Uncle Happy, "needed me more. Stubborn asshole. Seriously, crashing planes deliberately into the Artic, ordering people to shoot down helicarriers while he's still on board, the guy has absolutely no sense of self preservation. Had. Damn it." He sat back in his seat, avoiding all the looks shot his way.

"So… Captain America is dead?" Scott asked hesitantly, unable to wrap his head around this whole situation.

"No," Bucky spoke for the first time, glaring at the crowd. Slowly, they all turned to look at him. "Steve is dead. Steve made this choice, knowing that it was the right one for him, and trusting that we wouldn't let the universe go to shit without him. Captain America is the symbol. Captain America didn't make this decision, Steve Rogers did."

Only a few people really seemed to understand – Tony, Bruce, Sam. But Captain America _was_ a symbol. The pinnacle of truth and justice who protected his country from all the evils of the world. Steve Rogers had been a man. A flawed man who always strove to do what was right and sometimes failed more than he helped, but who never stopped fighting. Even when he was so exhausted he could barely see straight, he always got back up. He never stopped believing that people could be better, could _do_ better. And he would give every last breath to allow them that chance.

"We just needed to tell you all in person," Rhodey chimed back in, expression grave. "We'll have to make some sort of announcement at some point, tell the people who need to know, but you all deserved to hear it first."

"I also found a place to rebuild the Compound," Tony informed them, wanting to end on a slightly less depressing note. "It'll take a while to fix up, but we've got another old storage facility in Pennsylvania. I'll need to turn it into a decent friendly gathering place for all things superhero, but I'll let you know when it's finished and you'll all be welcome any time." He glanced at the SHIELD duo in the far corner and narrowed his gaze slightly. "Maybe not you."

Fury just glared back. Maria still seemed to be processing what they had just learned, and didn't react.

The group began to disperse now that the news had been shared. The Guardians winked out first, Carol following a few moments later after sharing her condolences and saying good bye to Fury. Though she hadn't known Steve nearly as long as some of these people, she had come to like the other superhero Captain quite a lot over the last five years. They spoke semi-regularly as Steve and Natasha tried to keep some semblance of order on Earth while she worked with what was left of the Guardians to help out in the rest of the universe, and she truly considered him to be a good friend by now. She couldn't understand what the loss of Captain America might do to the Earth in the same way those Earth-bound superheroes would, but she knew Steve well enough to know that any world without Steve Rogers in it would be a sad one.

T'Challa hung around a few minutes more, speaking quietly with Bucky before the king cut the connection. He made the former assassin promise to visit Wakanda soon, and promised to check in regularly as well. Though Bucky had spent a good deal of his time there in cryo, he and the king had become friends after they had removed the HYDRA programming. T'Challa was worried about what Steve's loss would do to the man, who had clung so hard to the thought of his best friend through the deprogramming, who had known so little in this current time beyond pain, sadness, and the knowledge that somewhere out there was Steve Rogers, who was also thinking about him.

Those who had made the trip in person broke into smaller groups, Bruce hanging back to talk to Tony while Wanda and Sam wandered outside.

In silence, they made their way down towards the lake where Sam had only a few weeks earlier watched Steve try to come to grips with a future that didn't include Tony. Now, they would all have to readjust and learn to live without _him_. Wanda took a seat on a bench by the water, while Falcon hung back slightly. He and Wanda had gotten to know each other much better during their years on the run, and he knew that the young woman had grown far closer to Steve than either of them had probably thought possible. But Steve had saved her from Ultron and her own descent to villain, offered her a family when she had just lost her entire world, and saved her from the Raft and the torturous life she had thought would be her new normal. Perhaps most importantly to her, he had known about her and Vision and yet still trusted her to make her own decisions and not put herself and the rest of them in danger. And until she and Vision had gone dark that weekend in Edinburgh, she hadn't let him down.

Steve's 'I'm disappointed in you' look was incredibly hard to witness, even when it _wasn't _directed at her. When they had picked her and Vision up, she had tried to plead her case but still, the idea of disappointing a man she secretly thought of as an older brother filled her with shame. She hadn't had a chance to apologize before Thanos, and then suddenly she was gone.

And now she was back, but Vision wasn't. Natasha wasn't. Stark wasn't and then he was, but only because Steve wasn't. Wanda secretly didn't think the trade was really that fair. She didn't want to say it, but she'd much rather have Steve than the man who had seen them all thrown in the Raft and probably hadn't had second thoughts about it. She wondered if he condoned what those assholes had done to her in that prison. If he knew. If he cared.

She wanted Steve. She wanted her older brother to sit next to her, gather her in his arms, and tell her that whatever happened, they'd get through it together.

A heavy weight settled down next to her, and the Scarlet Witch let herself imagine just for a moment, that she was getting what she wanted.

But it was Sam who sat on the bench beside her, and Wanda forced herself to abandon those foolish dreams. Steve was gone. He was never coming back.

"I miss him," she whispered, looking out at the steady water in front of them. "I was so eager to leave after the funeral, I just wanted to be by myself for a little while, but I wasn't planning to stay gone forever. I never got to say goodbye."

Sam rested his hands on the bench and watched the water as well. "He knew you needed time," he said quietly. "He knew you needed to grieve."

Wanda sniffed and looked down. "I never told him how much I appreciated all he did for me. He gave me so much, and I…"

Sam shook his head, looking over at the distraught woman. "It was never a competition, Wanda. He never expected anything in return. He cared about you, and he wanted to give you the best life possible. I'll admit that wasn't so easy to do while a wanted fugitive, but he did his best."

Wanda smiled tearfully. "He never told me off for continuing to see Viz, even though it was dangerous for everyone. Stark could have followed us and found you all. We were so foolish."

"You liked him. You needed him in your life. Steve understood that." Sam was absolutely positive of this.

Wanda nodded, but didn't look like it made her feel any better. It probably didn't.

"Why do I feel like we all took the guy for granted?" A new voice interrupted them, and both turned to see Clint standing behind them, bow slung over one shoulder and hands clenched in his pockets.

Sam shrugged. "I think the whole world took Captain America for granted," he admitted, "and we were all too stupid to realize that we followed along."

Wanda looked confused, but Clint nodded agreeably. "You never think that you won't get another chance, and sometimes you just don't." He shrugged. "People always saw Captain America as this figurehead, and when he came out of the ice, I think he played along somewhat. For a little while at least. They never saw him as a real person, he was always a superhero. But I remember a guy just a few weeks out of a nearly seventy-year long sleep who trusted a recently brainwashed agent to have his back."

"Or a guy he'd had exactly one conversation with when the world was going to hell and he didn't know where to turn," Sam mused, nodding in understanding of Clint's general surprise that Steve had trusted him so completely even after everything he had done under Loki's control.

Clint inclined his head, a small smile on his lips. "He played along as the dutiful hero, and then helicarriers were falling from the sky and my friends were trying to kill me because spoiler alert: they weren't actually friends." Clint grimaced. "It took me three weeks to get back home from Portugal after I had to kill my exfil that day. No idea who to trust or what the hell was going on. And then suddenly there's Nat telling me that SHIELD isn't SHIELD, Fury's dead but not actually dead, and Cap's in the hospital because his dead friend from the forties is actually a not-so-dead Russian assassin. HYDRA assassin. She was a little iffy on the specifics, but I think he was both?" Clint snorted. "Doesn't anyone in this world stay dead anymore?"

Sam looked guilty. They had taken down HYDRA sure, but he had never really thought about what it might have been like for agents all around the world. How many hadn't been able to fight back, too surprised at their friends trying to kill them to react in time?

Clint shook his head. "And again, there was Captain America for the world to see, taking down HYDRA for the second time. People always seem to take for granted that someone will be there to save the day, and more often than not, that someone they expect to see is Captain America. Until the Accords, then he was just public enemy number one."

"Apparently the Accords are toast?" Sam had missed it, but Clint had been around the last five years, so he had to know. "Rhodey said Steve and Tony worked their shit out years ago, and without Ross to spearhead the whole thing, countries were pulling out left and right. They all needed so much help just surviving, no one really cared about enhanced individuals or regular humans, just that they could offer assistance."

"Still," Clint frowned. "People always expect Captain America to be there. We were just as bad as the rest. But I think somewhere along the way, Steve just got tired of it. Tired of being used for what he was, and nobody seeing the real human underneath. I remember Nat complaining that he would never take her up on those offers to set him up. He never really learned how to live beyond the Avengers, did he?"

Wanda looked even more upset, but Sam nodded readily enough. Clint sighed. "Tony often teased him about being a man out of time, but it was true. He tried to live in this world, but I don't think he was ever comfortable with it. He missed his own home too much."

"I should have told him that he was my family," Wanda whispered, sniffing sadly. "I never saw any of that, but I could have told him."

"It's not your fault hon," Clint assured the young woman. "Steve knew, I'm sure of it. He had family here, and he was aware of that, but sometimes, it just isn't enough."

"That's the thing about depression," Sam mused, shaking his head, "it doesn't care who you are or how many good or bad things you've got going on in your life, it just takes, indiscriminately." Clint and Wanda looked at him, surprised. Sam shrugged. "You were skirting around it, Barton. No SHIELD psychologist would ever have diagnosed Captain America with depression, even if he had let them see anything worth worrying about, but I could see flashes over the years. I asked him once what made him happy, and he honestly couldn't answer me." He shook himself off and stood up. "We can continue to sit around and mope over what he did, or we can choose to be grateful for the time we knew him, and honor the sacrifices he made. It wasn't just about giving Morgan her father back and we all know it. Steve was tired. I'm sure the last five years only made it worse, but he wanted to finally rest, so there's no use being angry or upset. Right?"

Clint looked at him appraisingly. He had only really worked with Sam for a short time during the whole Accords fiasco, but he really liked the man's steady calm and certainty. "Sounds about right." He looked over at Wanda and was rewarded with her shaky nod. "How about you come back to the farm with me for a while?" he asked gently. "Laura would love to finally meet you officially, and you could probably use some stability." Though Laura and the kids had joined Clint for Tony's funeral a couple weeks ago, they hadn't really been introduced to any of the mourners beyond those they already knew, and Wanda had disappeared pretty quickly after the gathering dispersed.

Wanda looked a little hesitant, but nodded again, and the trio began heading back towards the house to say their goodbyes before departing.

**XXX**

Steve Rogers and Peter Parker had had exactly one direct conversation in all the time they had known each other and known about each other. _He did it for you_. Peter remembered those words so clearly, spoken in Steve's soft but reassuring undertone as the duo watched the funeral break up and many guests head inside to start drinking. Steve had been so confident and positive. Tony had saved the whole universe but he had done it for precisely three reasons: Peter, Pepper, and Morgan. _He did it for you_.

And then suddenly everything had changed. Tony was back, and Peter was so happy about that that he hadn't asked any questions. He and May had left after one night, promising to return for the weekend to spend more time together, only to show up to a superhero pow-wow and learn that surprise! Tony's back but he's only here because Captain America once more made the sacrifice play.

Peter didn't know how to feel about that; he was ecstatic to have Tony back, but looking around the room of heroes, he could see that the feelings on the subject were mixed – it's not like anyone actually looked like they'd rather have Steve here than Tony (well, the Scarlet Witch girl that Peter remembered fighting on Cap's team a few years ago seemed a little upset, but she hid it well) but no one looked too thrilled to discover what it had cost them all.

And so here they were, the superhero gathering had broken up, and Peter and May were the only ones left. Well, Peter was pretty sure Cap's scary assassin friend was still lurking around, but he hadn't seen the man since the meeting had ended hours earlier. Pepper was busy with Rhodey in the kitchen, getting dinner ready, and Peter had wandered out onto the porch to watch the sun set.

A soft creak of the boards beneath their feet, and Tony joined the young hero. After a few minutes of silence, the older man sighed and then inexplicably repeated the same words Steve had once spoken to him just a few short yards away; and somehow, they rang even more hollow now than Steve's empty condolences after the funeral. _He did it for you_.

Peter had never asked anyone to die for him.

Tony rested his hands on the solid wood ledge in front of him, leaning against the porch enclosure wearily. "I'm glad to be back, kid, don't get me wrong. But the fact that he had to give his life to make it happen just doesn't sit right with me. But I know exactly why he did it, and it was you. It was Pepper, Morgan, everyone else he thought cared more for me than they did for him – or at least, that's probably the way he saw it. Stubborn fool couldn't understand that people in this century cared about him just as much. So yeah, it blows, but I'm grateful that I get to do this here, with you, again."

"I just feel…" Peter struggled to put into words what it was he was feeling. "Kind of guilty I guess? I mean, Captain America is super important and all, even though I guess I kind of missed the part where he's no longer a criminal but that's cool, really happy about that. He seemed cool even if we were fighting against each other at that airport. But I really missed you, and I'm so thrilled that you're back."

Tony grimaced. "There's plenty of guilt to go around, kid. Don't feel bad because you're happy. Steve would never want that."

"Steve would be happy that you're so happy."

The quiet voice interrupted them from the yard in front of the porch, and they watched as Bucky silently made his way up the stairs to join them, his footsteps barely registering on the creaky wooden boards beneath his feet. His expression was unreadable, but he sounded confident in what he was saying. "That's why he did it, kid. Because he knew that you would be happier with Stark and not him."

"But I don't –"

Peter didn't even manage to get the whole sentence out, before Tony interrupted him. "It's not a recrimination, Pete. Barnes isn't blaming you, and he's not trying to make you feel bad." He glared at Barnes for the implication.

Bucky nodded immediately. "Stark's right. Steve cared more for everyone else's feelings, his own were never important. Not trying to blame you, kid. Don't pay attention to me, I spent seventy years as a deadly assassin having my memory wiped over and over. What do I know?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "You're going to bring up the memory wiping to get out of everything, aren't you."

Bucky didn't deign to reply, but there was a decided twinkle in his eye that told Tony that he was starting to understand the former assassin far better than he had thought possible.

With the air of someone deliberately deciding that any further discussion on the subject would be beneath him, Tony returned to the conversation at hand. "I'm really sorry you never got to know the Steve we did," he said regretfully. "I wish I hadn't dragged you into that mess with the Accords, I wish we had been able to introduce you to the Avengers from years ago. He was a genuinely good man who would never think of himself, only how he could help others."

Peter smiled weakly. "Sounds about right."

Bucky shook his head slightly. "Not because he was Captain America, that's just the kind of asshole Steve was." Tony threw him another glare for swearing in front of the kid, but he didn't care. He just wanted people to understand what it did when they lumped Steve in with that stupid moniker. "Steve fit the role perfectly because he honestly believed that it was his responsibility to help save everyone except himself, but that wasn't because of the stupid serum or the shield. That was who Steve was even before the fucking serum was a twinkle in Erskine and Stark Senior's eyes."

Peter gulped. "I'm sorry, Mr… Winter Soldier sir?"

Tony snorted and Bucky winced. "Barnes, kid. Just Barnes."

"Not Bucky?" It still sounded so wrong for the name to even come out of Tony's mouth, but he was getting more used to Morgan's innocent 'Uncle Bucky' even if he would never use the name himself.

Bucky's glare said it all. He still replied though. "If you call me that I will shove my metal arm down your throat and rip your intestines out. There's exactly one person in this universe anymore who's allowed to use that name, Stark, and she might share your last name but she's way cuter and way more likable than you." Tony tried not to laugh, considering he agreed wholeheartedly. Bucky's expression softened and grew more pained as his eyes glazed over slightly. "Bucky was Steve's. I'll let Morgan have him now, but Bucky was Steve's right hand, as kids on the streets of Brooklyn and through a war that lost far more than it gained. I'm not him without Steve."

Silence greeted that statement, neither Tony nor Peter wanting to poke those issues with a ten foot pole.

Bucky shook himself off and focused on Tony. "I'll do it." Tony frowned, confused, and Bucky elaborated. "What we talked about a few days ago. Tell Rhodes I'm in. I'll talk to T'Challa about a new shield. And we definitely need a new outfit. I'm not all that into the stars and stripes."

Tony snorted. "You should have seen the outfit they made him wear when he first came out of the ice. Spandex, dude."

"Oh God, I saw pictures of that fight," Peter chimed in, grinning. "I mean, it was awesome and all, but man that outfit."

Tony nodded, chuckling. "Trust me, the stealth suit was a serious upgrade. But we'll talk about that later. Thanks, Barnes. I know what we're asking you to do, and we really appreciate it."

Bucky shrugged. Peter, recognizing what they must be talking about – and understanding to a smaller degree why they apparently thought it was necessary to have Captain America live on even though Steve Rogers was gone – stayed silent.

"I made a promise to myself a few days ago that I'd help protect the world since the punk would no longer be around to do his part. I thought once that I could just turn it off – spent months living as a goat herder in Wakanda," he ignored Tony's snort and Peter's questionable eyebrow raise, "and all I learned is that it doesn't matter how much I wanted it to be true, I'm just as wired for a fight as Steve was. He never could learn to live without a war, and neither can I. I need to be useful, Stark. I need to make up for the horrible things I've done. I want to help."

Tony rolled his eyes. "I thought we established that it wasn't you, it was HYDRA." He continued before Bucky had a chance to say anything, "But I get it, and I know I'll be glad to have you out there protecting the world. Maybe I'll even join in sometime."

Bucky raised an eyebrow. "I thought you'd retired. Settled down with your wife and kid to live the apple pie life."

Tony grimaced. "Turns out I'm not so great at letting go either. Made it five years though, longer than I thought I would." He actually sounded proud about that fact. Bucky almost laughed. Tony shrugged. "Pepper knew what she married. She may not have liked my extracurricular activities, but she knew it was a part of me. God, I was actually grateful when Steve came to get me after Scott reappeared with this crazy time travel plan." He looked around at the scene in front of him. "I mean, lakes are cool and all, but all day every day? I'm going out of my mind, man. I need some action."

Bucky snorted, understanding completely.

"So…" the older heroes turned to the teenager, who looked entirely amused by the awkward silence he had just created. "Crime fighting team up? Coordinating outfits, guys, I'm totally seeing it!" He grinned. "We can be like the Incredibles and wear a huge A on our chest. Oh but then I'd have to give up the Spidey suit, and I kind of like the Spidey suit."

"I thought I told you no more pop culture references," Tony cut him off, knowing that once he really got going there'd be no way to get a word in. "How about we just call you if we need you and in the meantime you go back to being your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man – you know, since you still have a neighborhood to save."

Peter beamed, remembering their conversation on that flying donut all those years ago – though for him it was only a few weeks, to be honest. "So we're just going full-on Justice League then. Only without the general sucky-ness and gloom. Got it."

"Sure kid, whatever." Tony rolled his eyes and shot Bucky a look that said 'ignore him', which the former assassin thankfully chose to do.

Pepper's call interrupted them as she informed all the cabin's inhabitants that dinner was ready, so the trio headed inside without delay.

It wouldn't be easy, but eventually, they would manage to rebuild the Avengers. They'd figure out whatever new dynamics they needed to, and they'd go back to being the superhero team the world had come to know and trust – for the most part (when they weren't being told that superheroes were responsible for all their problems – thankfully there was a lot less of that without Ross in any position of authority). Things would never be the same as they were, but they would still have Iron Man. They'd have Spider-Man. A whole mess of other heroes ready to jump in and help out if needed.

And they'd have Captain America. Bucky wouldn't be the same Cap they were used to – red, white, and blue really wasn't his style – but he knew the weight of that shield, he had seen the way Steve struggled to hold it up at times. He would honor that legacy. He'd even consent to fighting alongside Stark if that's what it took. He could do this. He would do this. He'd probably never stop missing Steve, but he would honor what the man had built here.

And God damn it, Bucky vowed that he didn't care what death looked like, he_ would_ find that punk eventually and kill him all over again.

_Yeah, I pulled DC into it. Sue me (please don't, I'm broke)._


End file.
